On December 7, 1941, American citizens watched in horror
as their country was attacked on its own soil for the first time
in history. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, it set off a
wave of racism against the Japanese Americans who were currently
residing on the West Coast. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor was
only the tip of the iceberg. Since the late 1800s, Japanese Immigrants
were discriminated against. Especially after World War I, numerous
anti-Asian sentiments arose. For instance, in 1922 in the case Ozawa
vs. the U.S., the U.S. Supreme court ruled denied citizenship (naturalization)
to Japanese Americans because they were not “white.” Only
two years later, the Immigration Act was passed that banned the admittance
of Asian Immigrants into the United States. It would not be until
1965 until the number of Asian Immigrants increased again.
Nevertheless, the emotions that arose after the attack caused a
wild fire of racial discrimination against the Japanese Americans,
as all were now seen only as the “enemy.” Only two
days after the Pearl Harbor attack, 2,000 Issei (first generation
Japanese immigrants) leaders from Hawaii and the mainland United
States were arrested and imprisoned by the United States government.
Moreover the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) warned Japanese
Americans against possessing guns, cameras and radios. For the
Japanese Americans, many of their jobs were related to fishing,
so they needed such materials as two-way radios. Numerous male
Issei were arrested for possession of these items and taken from
their families without a word about where they were going or when
they would see their family members again. Two months after the
attack, the American community watched in silence as 120,000 Japanese
Americans on the west coast were forced out of their homes and
into internment camps for the remainder of the war. According to
the Minidoka National Park website, 70% of the interned them were
American citizens.1